Gogama residents want to see rail safety on election agenda

There are calls for candidates on the federal election campaign trail to address rail safety following a string of derailments earlier this year in northern Ontario.

It's been six months since a CN train left the tracks beside Gogama,burst into flames,and dumped oil into a river.

It was the secondfiery derailment involving a train carrying oilin a month near the smallcommunity.

• CNGogamaderailment clean up shifts to river bottom
• CN track in northern Ontario received upgrades: Transport Canada

Gerry Talbot, the secretary of the local services board inGogama, saidthe close calls haveleft people in the communitywith a lot of questions about rail safety.

"The reminders are always there. Every time that the train goes by, especially with tanker cars," he said.

"It's a little bit too close for comfort, and when the trains do go by, there's thatmindset, they think about LacMeganticand the tragedy that happened there, where it could have happened here."

Talbot said he plans to put his questionsto the people running to be the Member of Parliament for the riding ofNickel Belt, which includes Gogama.

Fading from memory

In the wake of the Gogama wrecks,and the 2013disaster in Lac Megantic,the federal government did make some changes to rail safety.

For example, new tanker car standards are being phased in. Rail companies are also sharing more information with communities about dangerous goods that are moving through to help with emergency responses.

Greg Gormick, arail transportation consultant in Ontario, would like to see more discussion,but he thinks the issue may have already faded from memory.

"I'm definitely hoping this doesn't happen, but if there was a serious derailment in the midst of this election campaign, you would see candidates jumping on that issue," he said.

The Transportation Safety Board has yet to release its final report on the two derailments near Gogama.

A preliminary report indicated track infrastructure problems may have contributed to both crashes, along withanother derailment on the same rail linein March near Hornepayne.

Transport Canada has confirmed CN made repairs to the tracks in northern Ontario in response to inspections done after theseries of derailments.